Fear of the Crown
by Valkyrie Elysia
Summary: Before his coronation, High Priest Seto comes to terms with what's happened and heads toward the future. And realizes he's not alone as he thinks. Hints of Blueshipping, Pleashipping, and Vaseshipping.


**V.E.: Since I've been getting a lot of ideas for oneshots, this one has bugging me for a little while along with a series of oneshots I think I'll start next time. It surprises me how some people can follow a oneshot. I mean, it's one chapter. How can they expect anything different.**

**This kind of reminds me a little of the oneshot I did in Aknadin's viewpoint not too long ago, but that just might be because I'm doing his son's view point. Never thought I'd write from Priest Seto's point of view.**

**Ah well, you go with the inspiration you get. One of the rules I've learned about being writer. Otherwise it will never leave you alone.**

**Enjoy, if you can. This is kind of sad. Why are all my good ideas sad ones?**

* * *

Seto wasn't afraid of anything.

He had faced slave traders, rival magicians, thieves, and even demons. He was confident there was nothing in this world that could surprise him after the Underworld he had been put through with Bakura and Zorc.

So why was he shaking in front of a relatively harmless piece of head wear?

He stood in the treasury of the palace, illuminated only by the light of the torches, and right in front of him was the crown.

It wasn't the Millennium Eye crown the Pharaoh had worn. That crown had been buried with him and was the only crown that could work with his out of control hair.

It was the double crown other pharaohs had worn, the combined crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The proof that the pharaoh ruled both Kemet and Deshret.

Until recently, Seto had been preoccupied with rebuilding the kingdom and arranging the burials of the Pharaoh and former high priests of the Royal court. He hadn't the time to think about everything clearly nor did he want too.

However, things had settled down now. Tomorrow was when Seto would ascend Egypt's throne, taking on the title of the god's messenger in this world. He had tossed and turned with nightmares, reliving the events of the last pharaoh's brief reign. Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and at that late hour took a walk.

Somehow, he found himself in front of the thing that would soon place the weight of the world on his shoulders or more appropriately on his head.

He felt himself shake his head at the red and white crown in disbelief.

_How did come to this?_

Unwillingly, faces and events flashed before his eyes that he tried so hard to repress. But he knew he needed to figure this out now. He wouldn't have time as pharaoh to and this was the last night.

He closed his eyes and let everything wash over him, the peace of the late evening not matching at all what was going on in the soon to be former priest's mind or heart.

* * *

Aknadin. His was the first face that came to his mind. His former mentor, his guide to the royal court.

His father.

And that was what had upset Seto the most.

How long had he known? From the moment he started serving in the royal court? Later? It now occurred to Seto that the questions Aknadin had asked about his mother and where he had come from when they had started studying together, were more to the old man than polite interest. Was that what told Aknadin Seto was his son?

Seto had very hazy memories of his childhood, but now that he thought about it maybe they weren't so gone as he thought they had been. He remembered how many new magicians had gotten lost in the palace during the first month or so of coming there, but Seto had never gotten lost once. He also remembered just knowing about certain rooms of the palace without ever being told. He had been here before. Why didn't he realize it sooner?

The one memory he had of his father was a shadowed figure riding away. He had still been very young, so he had never known whether that image was real or a product of his own desire of remembering the man he never knew. Now he did.

What upset him most wasn't the fact Aknadin was his father, which was unbelievable at first but had come to a solid fact.

What he couldn't believe was what Aknadin had done. To Kul Elna, to the pharaoh.

To Kisara.

He just couldn't accept that. Aknadin may be his parent, but that didn't mean he had to like it. In his mind, the kind helpful person Aknadin had been to Seto, the man who had once been his father, had been long since gone. Dead and gone to the resentment he held for his brother and eventually his nephew.

Mahad. Seto felt himself smirk at the mention of the former magician. To say they had not gotten along would be an understatement. They hated each other. The only thing the two would ever agree on is their unquestioning devotion to the pharaoh. They would work together, but they wouldn't like it.

Seto still felt Mahad was a fool in the way he had died. But still, he would give almost anything just to argue with him again. To not make things seem so empty and foreign.

Karim. Seto respected him and worked with him many times. He was a bit intimidating at first, but they had gotten along pretty well.

Shada. He was the closest friend he had in the Inner Court. The two had been friends for several years and there was no one he respected more aside from Pharaoh Aknamkamon and the former Pharaoh.

Isis. Seto felt himself chuckle. One of the reasons Mahad had disliked him so much because he thought Seto had a crush on Isis. That eventually got cleared up, but Seto certainly appreciated the calm levelheaded seer and the sane conversations the two had. Although he certainly questioned her taste in men, particularly a certain magician.

Vizier Shimon. Seto hadn't been close to the old man, but he missed him now. It would be nice to have someone to give him advice when he was stepping into a world with so much responsibilities on his shoulders.

But there were two faces that were more present in his thoughts. Two people that had crept into his dreams more than the others and cause him the most heartache.

Kisara.

Her white hair, her pale skin, her calm blue eyes. The white dragon with blues eyes, her Ka.

How long had he dreamt about her? From the night they first met, he couldn't remember at least once a month he hadn't dreamed of her. Her appearance was unforgettable, even though it wasn't her unusual looks that made it that way.

Meeting her again after all those years was a thunderbolt. He didn't realize how much that girl mattered to him until she had been tested by those criminals' kas. He wanted to protect her, but in the end she was one who saved him, in more ways than one.

Standing in front of him, taking the hit meant for him. The blood, her body. The tears that leaked from his face as he stood in front of the Blue Eyes tablet.

He didn't think he could ever forget her. She occupied too much of his heart to be able to do that.

There was someone else who was the same, just as important to him but in a different way.

The Pharaoh. His cousin.

Even before Pharaoh Aknamkamon had said so, Seto had known when he knelt at the throne the first time, that his fate was bound to the young prince. He just had no idea how closely.

Though he hadn't been an incredibly close to him as Mahad had been, there was still something between them. He could still remember the sword sessions(which he always won) and dueling their kas(which he always lost).

Even though he had wiped his name from existence, the Pharaoh couldn't erase the memories of his time. And Seto would make sure he would never be forgotten.

_You said we would definitely meet again. I don't know how or when, but I trust in those words. And when that time comes, I will definitely prove to you my skill._

* * *

"Couldn't sleep?"

Seto was startled by the sudden voice in a room where he thought he was alone. He turned to find Mana behind him, her emerald eyes tinged with the red of sleeplessness as Seto's were. The Millennium Ring glimmered in the torch light.

He nodded to her.

"I was taking a walk and found myself in here."

Mana smiled.

"Prince did the same thing. The night before his coronation, I found him in here looking at the crown like his thoughts were a million miles away. I remembered that Pharaoh Aknamkamon once told me that no one is ready to be pharaoh, even himself. I never understood what he meant until that night."

Seto was surprised by how calm Mana was. He had never liked Mana that much, always running wild and disregarding rules. He had no idea why Mahad was fond of her, but maybe as her master Mahad understood her better than most.

Ever since the battle, Mana had been a lot more mature than Seto had ever seen her. In a way, it aged her.

He nodded to the Ring.

"I see the Ring has accepted you. That's just how Mahad would have wanted it."

Mana's smile grew softer.

"I know. And this is exactly what Prince would have wanted."

Seto felt himself unsure of what Mana said.

"I wonder about that."

Mana shook her head.

"He once told me that out of anyone in Egypt, if anyone was suited to pharaoh after him, it was you."

Seto's eyes went wide. He had no idea the pharaoh had thought so highly of him.

"He really said?"

Mana nodded, a small laugh escaping her.

"You know, I once joked to Prince, _You could tell me that you and Seto were long lost relatives and I wouldn't be surprised._ Funny how ironic it is."

"Why's that?"

Mana thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Because you're both stubborn. You remind me of him sometimes."

Mana turned to leave, but before she did she glanced back at Seto with a gentle look in her eye.

"Just so you know, I'm here if you need me."

Seto was stunned by Mana's words and then he realized some he hadn't before because he had been preoccupied with himself. He wasn't the only one who had lost people he cared about. He wasn't entirely familiar with Mana's background, but he knew that the pharaoh and the high priests were the closest things Mana had to family.

Against all odds, he and Mana were the survivors. They were all that was left and they couldn't afford to shut each other out.

This wasn't love and Seto knew it never would be. Some people may be able to move on from their loved one's death, but he knew he would never be able to move on from Kisara and he didn't want to. It might be selfish, but he knew he could never love anyone the way he loved her.

And Seto knows without saying anything that Mana was the same way. He had long since suspected that Mana had stronger feelings for the Pharaoh than friendship and sibling like affection. Whether she told his cousin and he reciprocated those feelings, he didn't know. Maybe he would ask her about it and he would tell her exactly what Kisara meant to him, but that was when they knew each other better.

Tonight it was enough she was here for him.

He nodded to her, a small smile on his face.

"Thank you. I know that."

Giving him one last smile, she walked away. He listened to the footsteps as they died away.

He turned back to the crown. He breathed deeply, calmer than he had felt in months. It didn't seem so intimidating as it had been before. And without the extra baggage he'd been carrying, Seto could look at it more objectionably.

He turned to walk back to his room, to get some sleep before waking up in several hours and in another couple of hours be crowned, take up crook and flail, and sit on the throne with Mana at his right side.

_I may be pharaoh tomorrow, but I will never forget what I've been. I am who I am because of it, for better or worse._

* * *

**V.E.: Finally done! Some explanations are in order so I'll try as best I can.**

**1. I've never actually seen Atem in anime wearing a typical crown for an Egyptian pharaoh, but I can definitely see Seto wearing one. He seems like a traditional guy.**

**2. Kemet means "black land" and was what Egyptians called their country. Deshret means "red land" and is where the word **_**desert**_** comes from. I found this out while researching Ancient Egypt because I want to write a vaseshipping story in Ancient Egypt.**

**3. The crook and flail are what a pharaoh would hold in his hands. Together, they were symbols of kingship and were probably used in certain ceremonies.**

**Please review kindly!**


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